Palestinians: Peace Starts with Facing the Harsh Reality of Hate

The Arab states, many Europeans and the so-called "pro-Palestinian" movement have been using the same tactic since 1948 -- keep the Palestinians in poverty, victimhood, and dependence so that Israel can be blamed, with the hope that Israel would lose legitimacy and its Jewish residents would be thrown into the sea or they would pack up and leave.

Values that bring peace (acceptance of differences, religious tolerance, and non-violent conflict resolution) are taught all over the liberal democratic world, including Israel, but somehow, when it comes to Arabs, all expectations of socialized behavior are thrown out the window.

Somehow, people expect to resolve a conflict without neutralizing the root cause of that conflict: programming people to hate.

Teach Peace: This is the solution that Western politicians urgently need to talk about when they meet Palestinian officials. It should be at the start, at the middle, and at the end of every meeting and every speech, and all funding should be made contingent on it and strictly linked to it.

As an Arab, the situation of the Palestinians breaks my heart, as does the situation of Syrians, Lebanese, Iraqis, and even those living in relative peace under dictatorships. But the Palestinian situation bothers me most because no realistic solution is ever seriously considered.

While Palestinian refugees are scattered over several countries and given few rights by their Arab hosts, and while they live in various states of dependence in Gaza and the West Bank, resolution of their status is delayed decade after decade, with occasional lip service paid to a negotiated two-state solution -- the magic solution that would supposedly cure everything!

Who should be blamed for this? Most of the world is quick to blame Israel. I do not blame Israel for one second. The Jews accepted the UN partition plan of 1947 which would have given the Palestinians a state more viable than what was given to the Jews, but the Arab states convinced the Palestinians that it was a bad deal, and the Palestinians have been rejecting all opportunities for a state ever since.

The Arab states, many Europeans and the so-called "pro-Palestinian" movement have been using the same tactic since 1948 – keep the Palestinians in poverty, victimhood, and dependence so that Israel can be blamed, with the hope that Israel would lose legitimacy and its Jewish residents would be thrown into the sea or they would pack up and leave. Obviously it has not worked and it never will, but it has created what seems a carefully-planned hate culture for the Palestinians. This hate culture started from traditional Arab anti-Semitism, was combined with European anti-Semitism and has evolved into the most notorious and possibly the worst culture of hate on earth today. Less than a week ago, in the official Friday sermon on official Palestinian Authority (PA) television -- not Hamas -- the PA preacher was praying for genocide:

"Allah, punish Your enemies, the enemies of religion, count their numbers and kill them to the last one, and bring them a black day. Allah, punish the wicked Jews, and those among the atheists who help them. Allah, we ask that You bestow upon us respect and honor by enabling us to repel them, and we ask You to save us from their evil."

All attempts by the U.S. to facilitate a final-status agreement between Israel and the Palestinians have failed. Has any reasonable person really expected those attempts to succeed?

A Palestinian girl recites a poem about Jews on official Palestinian Authority TV, May 29, 2015: "Oh Sons of Zion, oh most evil among creations. Oh barbaric monkeys..."

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas claims that he wants a Palestinian state in Gaza and the West Bank, yet he refused it when it was offered to him because he knows that he cannot sell any reasonable solution to his people. He knows that Palestinians have been taught for generations to believe that the only solution is the end of the Jewish state, and he and his predecessor Yasser Arafat hold a huge part of responsibility in that brainwashing.

Peace cannot be achieved as if by magic. Teach the Palestinians the values that bring peace (acceptance of differences, religious tolerance, and non-violent conflict resolution) rather than the lies that bring hate. Stop the anti-Israel incitement and maybe in a generation or two, the Palestinians will be ready for peace. These are the values taught all over the liberal democratic world, including Israel, but somehow, when it comes to Arabs, all expectations of socialized behavior are thrown out the window.

That peace requires -- first -- the end of the Palestinian culture of hate is obvious; yet this point is rarely made except by Israel and its supporters. Somehow, people expect to resolve a conflict without neutralizing the root cause of that conflict: teaching hate. Apparently, no one wants to face the reality that fighting hate is far harder than fighting warplanes, armored vehicles, missiles, or armies. But far more important.

When well-meaning but naïve (or disingenuous) people talk about how "both sides" in the conflict are at fault, I get nauseated. While it is technically true that both sides have faults, the imbalance is so great that the analogy is not only meaningless, but, more importantly, dangerous. It papers over the most fundamental issue in this conflict -- the need to resolve the huge moral failure on the Arab side, its anti-Semitic hatred.

Resolving the hatred would finally allow Palestinians to look after their own interests rather than be obsessed and distracted with damaging the interests of Israel. They would find that their interests are quite consistent with those of Israel, and that peace would bring them huge dividends. They would be able to see these facts because they would no longer be blinded by hate.

Teach Peace: This is the solution that Western politicians urgently need to talk about when they meet Palestinian officials. It should be at the start, at the middle, and at the end of every meeting and every speech, and all funding should be made contingent on it and strictly linked to it.

Until this approach is adopted, there is really no point in talking about a negotiated two-state solution.

Fred Maroun, a left-leaning Arab based in Canada, has authored op-eds for New Canadian Media, among other outlets. From 1961-1984, he lived in Lebanon.

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21 Reader Comments

Alexander Hersh • Apr 29, 2016 at 10:53

Brilliant, discerning and insightful article by Fred Maroun. The 'Palestinian' Arabs have never been interested in embracing peace and acknowledging and recognizing the Jewish State of Israel's historical, national and sovereign right to exist in the Holy Land. Their primary objective remains the complete destruction and elimination of the Jewish State of Israel in the Holy Land and the riddance of all Israeli Jews. There is a two-state solution for the troubled Levant: a Jewish State of Israel in the Holy Land of Israel, Judea and Samaria, west of the River Jordan from the River Jordan to the Mediterranean Sea and a Muslim Arab State of 'Palestine' in the Imperial British artificially created Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, east of the River Jordan.

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David • Apr 28, 2016 at 15:19

Thank you for an excellent article sir! It should be noted that Jews even accepted a smaller state (than the small '48 partition which was also rejected) in '37 as part of the Peel Commission recommendation, but Arabs rejected this as well.

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Sala Abrahim • Apr 27, 2016 at 01:09

I agree with the writer of the article that the culture of hate which permeates all levels of Palestinian society is largely responsible for the perpetual cycle of violence and in making any peace initiative extremely difficult to arrive at.

Moreover, any society built on extreme hate and the rejection of the other will never be a healthy society and it will be consumed by violence in the process the social cost would be very high and it may retard the social progress of society as a whole. I think the Palestinian political leadership bears the blame for its failure to look beyond the politics of hate and to create a vision of a shared future in which there is peace, tolerance and the acceptance of the other.

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John Richmond • Apr 26, 2016 at 03:06

The fundamental problem with Islam is that it has not evolved since its original C7th promulgation. Unlike Judaism, where law, ethics, history and stories are combined in Talmud, that have been codified and explained over many centuries, but principally between 200 BCE and 500CE, Islam has no such system of jurisprudence. Thus, the ordinary 'man on the street' has no access to learning other than the Qu'ran. In practice this means Sharia as interpreted by various individuals of varying degrees of antipathy to the Jews.

Until this changes, and Islam learns that peace is better than war, nothing can or will change. And, so long as left leaning liberals in the west refuse to distinguish between defensive and offensive action and accept the legitimacy of Israel, it will continue to pander to the Islamist views that Israel needs to be extinguished and the Jews with it.

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sharri palmer • Apr 26, 2016 at 00:22

"This is the solution that Western politicians urgently need to talk about when they meet Palestinian officials. It should be at the start, at the middle, and at the end of every meeting and every speech, and all funding should be made contingent on it and strictly linked to it." I don't think it will hurt to do this.But, I know they will lie and say they accept some statements to get the funding. I also think that Western politicians have to stop showing their hand about everything and stop being honest with a people who believe that it is right to lie to non-Muslims. At the same time, hold them accountable for every action that they take on any Western country and Christians. Call them out on what they do that is contrary to Western Culture. Only keeping a firm hand on them will pay off, I think! And be honest about human rights issues, child and women abuse...stop allowing it! That should be part of that conversation in the quoted first paragraph.

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Mels sharri palmer • Apr 27, 2016 at 10:12

Although I agree with Sharri Palmer, that Western politicians must face up to people whose religion tells them to lie to non Muslims, hold them accountable for every action they take on any country or religion and call them out on their lies and criminal education system of hate,etc. etc., I feel that too many, perhaps all European politicians are either too afraid of Muslim terror, or too willing to submit to Muslim voters, to carry out the necessary actions.

I believe things will never change unless or until the West dismantles the corrupt United Nations and builds a UN of Western Civilised culture with strong enough teeth to hold corrupt organizations like the Palestinian criminal education system accountable for paraIyzing generations of very young children and youth into insensitivity, retarding their brains back to 7th Century Mohammodism and Wahhabism. Failing that, we the ordinary people must take to the streets, and may the best side win, with the help of the Russians on side of the West, hopefully.

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Lia • Apr 25, 2016 at 19:41

Ages ago, when I still taught, some pupils had a toad decal on their bookbags, with a caption reading 'Jealousy makes you ugly'. Now I wonder, does hate make one ugly, or does it work the other way around?

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AmericanMom • Apr 25, 2016 at 13:49

This is a well written article and I agree with it entirely. I grew up in Israel singing peace songs and songs about nature in school while the Palestinian children were taught to hate by their teachers and religious and political leaders. I see that things have only gone from bad to worse and I blame a lot of it on the constant stupidity of the Western leftists who infantilize the Palestinians and fail to see the problem is hate, hate that is passed down to generation after generation that prevents peace and prevents them from achieving all the great things that Israelis are achieving. As Golda Meir once said -- when the Palestinians love their children more than they hate Jews there will be peace.

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Dick Choad • Apr 25, 2016 at 13:46

politicalislam.com explains the jihad that has been continuously being waged for 1400 years. Islam is the problem. The ideology of Islam is death, pure and simple.

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Doug Mayfield • Apr 25, 2016 at 13:35

"Values that bring peace (acceptance of differences, religious tolerance, and non-violent conflict resolution) are taught all over the liberal democratic world, including Israel, but somehow, when it comes to Arabs, all expectations of socialized behavior are thrown out the window."

Why? Why do Arabs throw out civilized behavior? Why are they, Sunnis and Shiites for example, constantly at war even among themselves?

The belief system, Islam, demands of its followers that they should murder or enslave anyone who disagrees with them. (That some followers of Islam do not obey this command may simply reflect their retention of a shred of human decency but they are enablers of those who do.)

And Islam rules the Arab world intellectually and morally.

As long as this is true, there will no peace among the Arabs. As long as this is true, the unrelenting attacks on the West, with its traditions of freedom and individual rights which are anathema to followers of Islam, will continue.

The Arab world desperately needs an intellectual and moral revolution. Until that occurs, there will be no peace in the Middle East or anywhere else where Islam holds sway.

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Ariane Hechter • Apr 25, 2016 at 13:04

Mr Maroun, are you the only Arab saddened by the situation of the Palestinians?

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Mary Ann McKinnon • Apr 25, 2016 at 12:04

Well written and insightful, this article clearly summarizes the important factors on why peace will be impossible to achieve until the PA stops teaching hatred. I had not considered how the Arab states foster this hatred because it furthers their agenda and in the process are sacrificing their Palestinians brothers and sisters for their own greed. Very upsetting.

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Carl • Apr 25, 2016 at 11:12

The author should be credited for taking the side of Israel in this deadly conflict, but he totally misleads us as to the cause of the conflict. The cause is not "hatred", per se. The cause is the religion of ISLAM (NOT a "hateful version") itself. All Moslems believe that the Koran is their god's literal word, and their god commands Moslems to hate the Jews and to make war against them. The "Palestinians" are Moslems, self-proclaimed as part of the worldwide Moslem community. As such, they cannot stop hating the Jews and calling for the destruction of Israel. Nor can the rest of the Moslem world. Don't forget that Israel's deadliest enemy is the Islamic Republic of Iran, and the Iranians are not Arab, let alone, "Palestinian". The essence of the conflict over Israel is the Islamic holy jihad against the Jews. Why can't Fred Maroun admit this?

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Stacey Horcher • Apr 25, 2016 at 11:06

You are so lucid and so accurate! Thank you for your incredible insights about this, and for writing so candidly about them!

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Elisheva • Apr 25, 2016 at 10:54

Fred Maroun's writing should be required reading for all diplomats. Thanks for writing and being so clear and to the point.

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tiki • Apr 25, 2016 at 10:05

As long as they keep their hate culture in tact (financed & supported by the West) their future will be the same as their past!

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Mickey Oberman • Apr 25, 2016 at 09:05

When generations of Muslims have been taught to hate and to kill how are you going to get them and their children and their children's children to believe otherwise?

Arafat and Abbas have created a people out of a non-people that are doomed to extinction because they are incapable of living with anyone including their fellow Muslims and, indeed, even with themselves.

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Ted Dornan • Apr 25, 2016 at 07:50

This man speaks rightly, that the perpetual hate must come to an end, or there is no solution. Just as the statement of a song from "The Sound of Music" says, it's necessary to instill in the children the same faulty teachings of hatred without a cause, since we are not born hating anyone for their ethnicity.

There will be a cessation of this hatred, however, for, as the Word says in Isaiah 27:12-13: "12 And it shall come to pass in that day, that Yahuwah shall stir up the people from the channel of the River Euphrates to the river of Egypt, and you shall be gathered one by one, O children of Yisrael. 13 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the great shofar shall be blown, and they shall come who were ready to perish in the land of Assyria, and the outcasts in the land of Egypt, and shall worship Yahuwah in the set-apart mountain at Yahrushalayim."

In other words, at the end of this age, there will be an awakening brought about by the Messiah Yahushua (Jesus) that will be the beginning of peace on earth. The sounding of the shofar is both literal and symbolic of the preaching of the imminent Kingdom of Yahuwah (Isaiah 58:1), by which all who choose to submit to the rule of Messiah Yahushua over the earth will have both peace on earth and everlasting life with it. They were ready to perish, but they will instead turn to the Messiah, who will save all of us who choose everlasting life that He alone has to give. There will be none left alive who still refuse to repent and turn to Him, who still preach hatred. The creation that the Master Yahushua started will finally be completed with everlasting peace both on earth and in the whole universe, omein.

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Liz Wagner • Apr 25, 2016 at 07:40

This is a beautifully stated argument for peace and against the relentless pursuit of hatred within Palestinian society. We are all blessed by the courage of people such as Fred Maroun, who firmly reject the world's habits of excuse-making for Arabs and blaming for Jews. Now, if only Israel would find a way to confront the world with its disingenuous attitude toward the Jewish state, the way Prime Minister Begin did—he refused to submit to the will of traditional Arab antisemites and Western antisemites—peace might be possible somewhere down the line.

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Hanna • Apr 25, 2016 at 07:26

The reason for the but --- IT IS NOT GOING TO HAPPEN --- not any time soon, anyhow. On the contrary --- events are going from bad to worse, and that includes events in the so-called West, or especially in the West. Whether it is in Europe or in the USA, ANTISEMITISM and hatred in general are on the rise while education and civil behavior are at the bottom of the list. It is sad and painful to watch, but it seems that the West is, slowly, going to "hell". So, when it comes to a two state solution --- a very noble idea --- DON'T HOLD YOUR BREATH!!! Thank you Mr. Fred Maroan and Gatestone.

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Marina Hanna • Apr 30, 2016 at 17:02

The "two state solution" is totally unworkable: we already have Jordan for Arabs 77% of former British Palestinian Mandate, and Israel for Jews west of river, Arabs already have too many states and too many lands more than 20. Jews occupy nothing, they returned to ancestral lands and are indigenous nation. The only solution is creating housing and jobs in Arab lands : Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Syria, Kuwait, Qatar, Morocco, Bosnia etc for all those "refugees" and Pal. Arabs ( whose origins are from there, many are very recent arrivals to Holy Land in the beginning of 20th century due to economic migration for jobs). No need to invent fake new identity created very recently in 1964 year by KGB. Arabs started wars which created "refugee" problem, they must accept all refugees and grant normal citizenship. Hatred to Jews prevent from employing their talents in creating thriving economy and housing in Middle East. There is plenty of territory to house all, what lacks, it is goodwill, cooperation between nations and recognition of aboriginal, indigenous rights of minorities: Jews, Aramean Christians, Copts, Kurds, etc.... Jealousy prevents accepting narrative of Bible OT ( God allocated that portion of land to descendants of Abraham, Yithak, Jacob) , and rational resolution compatible with it. After all, even that sounds too fantastic, it is not unreasonable : in any case bounds are set, it would be easier to accept to Muslims what is told even in Quran (Allah gave land to Banu Israyil), instead fighting with it, better to think constructively how to build residential areas in relatively quiet area like Morocco, Bosnia, Kuwait, Qatar to settle refugees, how to create jobs there and invite all Arabs, including from Gaza and PA to work there and provide residency (with future application to citizenship) permits.

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